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The new-car dealer offered a $1,500 trade-in for my 2003 Expedition. I turned him down and put the gas guzzler up on Craigslist. Four days later I had in hand a $3,500 cashier’s check.

This essay will tell you what I did to make a quick sale and complete it safely. It is particularly aimed at solving the knotty problem of how to get paid.

It’s a scary world out there, scary enough that car dealers can make ridiculous low-ball bids. Recent headlines:

Slain couple in Craigslist case found lying separately

Cops seek woman using counterfeit $100 bills

Comptroller of the Currency alerts: counterfeit cashier's checks of First National Bank

Evidently the typical Craigslist buyer pays for a car with bogus money, and, after completing the transaction, bumps off the seller, leaving his body in a pond.

Put yourself at ease with some simple precautions. Also—this is just as important—put your buyer at ease. After all, he/she has read Craigslist headlines and now wonders if you are one of the usual vendors who sell hot goods and also assault the buyers.

I don’t know if the murders associated with Craigslist (20+ last year, according to one not very authoritative count) amount to a rash. In a big country with lots of stuff on the Internet and thousands of murders, this could be statistically insignificant. I do think, though, that there has been a rash of official responses, along these lines:

Do you really have to stay within sight of a cop in order to sell something? I have a less drastic recipe for success in car selling. This 10-step plan takes you from merchandising through test drives to payment.

Expedition with 144,000 miles

1. Do an extreme cleaning. Your tools should include a single-edge razor and Goo-Gone (to erase decals), the radiator attachment to a vacuum (to get in cracks) and undiluted ammonia (to use on cupholders and dash). Maybe spring for the $8 new-car scent on Amazon.

2. Take pictures on a sunny day. Take them in a rural setting, with a leafy backdrop. You’ll beat out the competition with photos taken in front of vacant lots in the Bronx. Select eight photos. Don’t leave buyers wondering whether there is a bashed-in fender on the other side.

3. Set up a Gmail or Hotmail address, like ford2003, to get messages. The purpose in not disclosing your usual address is not safety (do murderers find victims by getting their emails?) but privacy; junk e-mailers scrape addresses off the Web. For a similar reason, you probably shouldn’t publish your phone number.

4. Use the safe spot where you will meet buyers as your Craigslist location. That pinpoint, coupled with Google Maps, means you don’t have to dictate driving directions, and no one will know where you live.

What’s safe? I chose the parking lot of a small-town municipal building/sheriff substation. A strip mall will do.

5. Price your car low—say, at a 20% discount to the Kelley Blue Book price. The Kelley prices are a little rich, and you want your ad to attract a lot of responses. That way you can screen buyers via phone. Eliminate car flippers and people who will waste your time. Don’t do a test drive with someone who isn’t prepared to pay the full asking price.

Include, in the description, meticulous detail about features like rear A/C and engine size, and the fact that you are the original owner.

I showed my Ford to only one buyer, and I never asked for his license. After an interview over the phone I found him in the White Pages and in an article about volunteer firemen. He showed up with his wife and three young boys, and the five of them zoomed off in the SUV.

7. Bring papers to the test drive: a print-out from Kelley showing your buyer that he’s getting a bargain; photocopy of your title; two copies of a contract of sale reciting the price, your name and the prospective buyer’s name. I also brought along the 12-year-old dealer sticker with all the specs and a file folder with receipts from every repair job.

If the buyer is ready to buy, propose that you both sign and that he give you a $100 deposit. He wants to think about it? Fine, you say, but you’ll be showing the car to other people.

8. Arrange a quick closing. If you have a deal, explain that you want the balance in the form of a cashier’s check and that the closing will take place inside a Department of Motor Vehicles office. Before then, the buyer will tell you the name and location of the bank branch that will draw the check and the name of a banker who can answer questions. Get the phone number for this branch on your own.

9. Come prepared to the DMV. On the closing day, you drive the vehicle to the DMV with a friend following behind in another car. Bring the real title, the keys and a screwdriver. Your buyer brings his license, the cashier’s check payable to you (with the stub attached), proof of insurance and a personal check to cover sales tax and registration fees.

The buyer’s insurance agent may have needed the vehicle identification number. No problem: It was on the copy of the title you gave him. In some states a side trip to a notary may be necessary.

Before signing the title, call the bank to see if the check is legit. You may need information from the stub (such as the bank customer’s account number) to pry out the answer.

10. Remove plates immediately. Have your friend unscrew them while your buyer brings registration forms to the clerk and gets temporary plates. If the buyer encounters a problem, you can help him. Then hand in your plates and take the receipt to your insurance agent.

I found a small-town DMV office with no lines. The closing took 12 minutes.